[7] Tema was commissioned by Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and grew rapidly after the construction of a large harbor in 1961.

The Tema metropolis was designed, planned and developed by the award-winning urban planner and Ghana's first architect, Theodore S.

[9] It is now a major trading center, home to an oil refinery and numerous factories, and is linked to Accra by a highway and railway.

Tema metropolitan forms part of the sixteen Metropolis, Municipalities and Districts in the Greater Accra Region.

Over the following decades, Tema grew into the industrial hub of Ghana, with a carefully constructed road layout featuring landscaping and street lights.

It boasted modern recreational centres and other social amenities rare among African cities at the time.

A large population influx began in the 1960s owing to the town's employment opportunities, but the Tema Development Corporation was unable to construct housing and provide other services to meet the needs of the migrants.

Moreover, royalties paid by Tema Newtown's companies to evicted villagers have not been used due to a chieftaincy dispute.

It lies in the driest part of southern Ghana, experiencing average annual rainfall of about 750 millimetres (30 in).

Apart from handling Ghanaian imports and exports, it is also a traffic junction, dealing with transit cargo destined for the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

The wooden canoes have lengths over all (LOA) ranging between 30 and 70 m (98 and 230 ft), mainly owned and operated by indigenous Ghanaians.

[21] In recent years the corporation has had much investment from Korea, including plans, as of 2013, to build a new stadium, an idea which proved unpopular with squatters.

[22] The first chief executive officer of the corporation was Theodore S. Clerk, the first Ghanaian architect and award-winning urban planner who served in the CEO position from 1963 after the enactment of the statute, until 1965.

[23] There are Public Transports from Tema to major cities such as Kumasi; Accra; Mim, Ahafo ; Cape Coast, Sunyani; Takoradi; Tamale; Ho; Wa; Bolgatanga; Elubo; Aflao, Techiman.

SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College (SOS-HGIC), a private mixed boarding school catering to the 10th through 13th grades, is located in Tema.